I’ve written a lot of reviews over the years. This is the home of pretty much all of them since about 2003.
What happened in the nineties – a feeding frenzy involving major labels the world over, trying to find the next big thing from a seething mass of disparate Alternative bands – from industrial rock, to metal, to thrash, to grunge, to nu-metal, to EBM (etc, etc) is something that we will never witness again. Of […]
September 2013 has seen two debut albums released from bands on opposite sides of the Atlantic, that perhaps have more in common than might first be thought. Both are industrial-influenced bands, that have come from outside the “scene”, or at least that’s the way it appears (and, not to mention, both albums are self-titled, oddly […]
The years haven’t been especially kind to bands that came to popular attention from the nineties industrial rock boom in many ways, with few bands surviving the late-90s as the bubble burst – either they fell victim to alcohol and drugs, the mass of record label consolidations at the end of the decade, volatile inter-band […]
It has been noted recently that there have been a dearth of “club” shows in the industrial scene, at least in the UK, of late, with pretty grim predictions for 2014, too. But in the meantime, there have been the odd show to restore faith somewhat that strong bills can occur, with support acts as […]
Of the industrial scene’s great survivors (FLA, Skinny Puppy, Front 242, KMFDM), all four have now been active for over 25 years, and aside from 242 (who seem happy with revisiting their past with admittedly amazing live shows, which is no problem for me – I’ve seen them five times in the last five years […]
For the tenth time – I started writing a seemingly ever-expanding review of the annual festival in 2003 – here goes with my coverage of Infest rundown for 2013. As usual this is mainly covering each of the bands in turn from my point-of-view, with a few other opinions as we go, and I’m well […]
It's always interesting when a new artist jumps out to popular attention. Séamus Bradd's The .Invalid has been the latest project to do this just recently, with a fair amount of ecstatic comment online from "the scene" once the album – apparently two years in the works – finally saw the light of day in […]
The height of summer, in this kinda dead period between all the festivals, is always a strange time to go to gigs. For a start, it is broad daylight still before you even get to the venue, and often all-too-many venues get rather hot and sweaty early on, meaning that perhaps, gig attendance in this […]
A new section where I look back at albums in my past. They may be great albums, they may be albums that haven't stood the test of time. But these are albums I bought and loved at one point, and maybe haven't listened to much in the meantime. More importantly, this is a way of […]
I will, I promise, be covering another new band at some point in my reviews, rather than another returning. Although in Senser’s case, it is more a case of continuing to plug away, with a fifth album over a near-twenty year period, even if there have been downtimes and lineup changes along the way.
2013 has been a mightily odd year for music. While we’ve seen, for better or worse, no end of bands returning after long breaks, reforming or just keeping on going – with a seeming lack of new bands in certain areas – it has been quite astounding just how good many of those returns have […]
The height of summer, in this kinda dead period between all the festivals, is always a strange time to go to gigs. For a start, it is broad daylight still before you even get to the venue, and often all-too-many venues get rather hot and sweaty early on, meaning that perhaps, gig attendance in this […]
Despite vowing to myself a long time ago I would try and avoid the retro "album live show" phenomenon that has seemingly ruled the live circuit for a good few years now, I've succumbed on occasions. One turned out to be one of the greatest gigs of my life (Spiritualized), another was a nice blast […]
Usually, I guess, when you emigrate to the other side of the world, and start a new life 10,500 miles from your home city, continuing your existing band/musical project may not be high on the list of priorities as you settle down. But Ed Oxime has had other ideas after doing exactly that, with a […]
Sometimes the most interesting gigs, the ones that give you a new perspective, are not in large venues, or at public gigs, but at small events that you weren't even sure you were attending until late on. As happened here, with a Thee Faction show that happened to be a member of the band's birthday, […]
I think that most of us that listen to a lot of music, and have been in one “scene” or another have a bucket list of bands that they simply have to see at some point or another. I’m no exception, and in my incessant gig-going in recent years, I’ve cleared many of the bands […]
The last gig of a bit of a frantic period at the end of April into early May, before a couple of weeks off from gigging, this was a hastily arranged, last minute attendance. I had a ticket for the A&P show earlier in the week, but the announcement of this show allowed me to […]
Nearly ten years since comeback album The Greater Wrong of the Right, and thirteen years since their return from the hiatus/collapse with the legendary Doomsday show, Skinny Puppy are back with their fourth album since the reformation, and after a string of ultimately disappointing albums that have seen them, at best treading water or even […]
Since last year, and her debut UK show that I also covered here, Chelsea Wolfe has, on the evidence of this show and the apparently well-received tour across the country, significantly increased her fanbase in the UK. So, after a much smaller gig at The Old Blue Last in Shoreditch last May, this time it […]
I wasn't even meant to be at this gig. Initially – and indeed some time ago – I had bought a ticket to see Author & Punisher the same evening, after failing to get a ticket in the now-familiar scrum for a gig that raised as much interest as this. But, thanks to a message […]
